J 2016

FOOD CONSUMPTION AND THE ACTUAL STATISTICS OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES: AN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL COMPARISON OF 42 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

GRASGRUBER, Pavel, Martin SEBERA, Eduard HRAZDÍRA, Sylva HŘEBÍČKOVÁ, Jan CACEK et. al.

Basic information

Original name

FOOD CONSUMPTION AND THE ACTUAL STATISTICS OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES: AN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL COMPARISON OF 42 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Authors

GRASGRUBER, Pavel (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution), Martin SEBERA (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Eduard HRAZDÍRA (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Sylva HŘEBÍČKOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution) and Jan CACEK (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution)

Edition

Food & Nutrition Research, Sweden, Co-Action Publishing, 2016, 1654-6628

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

Sport and leisure time activities

Country of publisher

Sweden

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

Impact factor

Impact factor: 2.039

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14510/16:00091078

Organization unit

Faculty of Sports Studies

UT WoS

000396880200001

Keywords in English

prevention; BMI; smoking; food consumption

Tags

Tags

International impact, Reviewed
Změněno: 12/9/2017 13:48, PhDr. Jan Cacek, Ph.D.

Abstract

V originále

ABSTRACT Background: The aim of this ecological study was to identify the main nutritional factors related to the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in Europe, based on a comparison of international statistics. Design: The mean consumption of 62 food items from the FAOSTAT database (1993–2008) was compared with the actual statistics of five CVD indicators in 42 European countries. Several other exogenous factors (health expenditure, smoking, body mass index) and the historical stability of results were also examined. Results: We found exceptionally strong relationships between some of the examined factors, the highest being a correlation between raised cholesterol in men and the combined consumption of animal fat and animal protein (r=0.92, p<0.001). The most significant dietary correlate of low CVD risk was high total fat and animal protein consumption. Additional statistical analyses further highlighted citrus fruits, high-fat dairy (cheese) and tree nuts. Among other non-dietary factors, health expenditure showed by far the highest correlation coefficients. The major correlate of high CVD risk was the proportion of energy from carbohydrates and alcohol, or from potato and cereal carbohydrates. Similar patterns were observed between food consumption and CVD statistics from the period 1980–2000, which shows that these relationships are stable over time. However, we found striking discrepancies in men’s CVD statistics from 1980 and 1990, which can probably explain the origin of the ‘saturated fat hypothesis’ that influenced public health policies in the following decades. Conclusion: Our results do not support the association between CVDs and saturated fat, which is still contained in official dietary guidelines. Instead, they agree with data accumulated from recent studies that link CVD risk with the high glycaemic index/load of carbohydrate-based diets. In the absence of any scientific evidence connecting saturated fat with CVDs, these findings show that current dietary recommendations regarding CVDs should be seriously reconsidered.